If your computer hard drive was to crash and burn, would your work be safe?

Things have been particularly busy for me lately and I’ve had to outsource some work to a few different people.

The writing wasn’t particularly complex and so I felt comfortable outsourcing it, as the process is generally straightforward – I explain what I need writing to the writer, I get the finishes pieces back a few days later, check through them, make any edits that are needed and then send them off to my client.

Although all of the work was delivered to a high standard, one writer I used had a few computer issues, most notably that they lost a few of the pieces – they thought they’d saved them, closed down the document and when they went to send the batch of work over to me, they were a few pieces short and couldn’t find them any where, resulting in them having to write more than they had anticipated.

When the writer was telling me this, I smiled to myself – admittedly rolling my eyes a little in the process – thought “I really need to tell them a bit more about saving files properly” and never thought anything about it (N.B. I’ve known the writer for a long time, know that they don’t have fantastic IT skills and I’ve been saying for a while that I’ll give them some computer lessons).

It wasn’t until I started thinking about my weekly blog post here that I realised just how big of a catastrophe this situation could actually be for a freelance writer if they’re not prepared.

I’m fortunate enough that I’ve got a natural interest in IT.  I grew up around computers and for the last 10 years at least I’ve had some involvement with computers on a daily basis.

It’s because of this why I’ve developed a good knowledge of a range of different IT skills and utilize resources and processes such as proper file management and regular data backups to ensure that at worst, I’m only a day or two down on work that I’ve produced.

One of my favourite techniques to ensure that I never lose my work is to produce any piece of writing I do in a format where I can either set it up to save regularly or know that it’s going to be saved automatically every so often.

Where possible, I use a word processing document to do this, but I also regularly type into e-mails where they’re saved as a draft every 60 seconds and like I’m doing now, straight into a new blog post, as I know these are saved every few minutes, too.

I’m a huge believer in if you fail to prepare, you’re preparing to fail and when this is combined with a few near misses of losing documents, I now always ensure that I’ve got at least something to go back to and work from should technology fail on me.

In terms of your writing, what do you do to ensure that anything you produce isn’t at risk of being deleted before it’s used or sent to your client?

Image:  purplemattfish (Flickr)

Do you keep all of your work to yourself or do you outsource and work as part of a team?

In my post last week regarding personal development and reviewing your positive and negative points from the past year, one of the comments was from Annette at AllCustomContent.com.  She stated that her positive point from the last 12 months was that she’d streamlined a lot of her processes and developed her weaknesses by utilizing the skills of others.

I’m a massive fan of and believer in paying for others to do what you’re weak at and what they’re good at.

I always tend to offer the advice that you need to be competent in at least a basic way at every aspect of your job so that should the worse come to the worst and you need to do everything yourself, you’re capable of doing so.

However, if there are other people who specialise in an area you aren’t particularly strong in, the money spent paying them to carry it out could be the best money you’ve ever spent.

What I’ve found as a writer, though, is that we tend to be quite reclusive and secular and don’t take outside help in one respect but are the most sociable of people in another.

For instance, a lot of the writers I speak to tend to do everything themselves when it comes to actual work, taking on projects from clients where they have to write, edit and proof blog posts, website copy, press releases and news articles all at once.

Whether this is a reluctance to outsource work because they feel that they can do a great job without passing the work on or simply because they want to become a rounded writer I don’t know, but from my own personal experience, this is what I’ve found.

But then we move onto talking about writing and helping others and the freelance writing community is arguably the most helpful I’ve ever had the pleasure to work in.

Nothing seems to be too much trouble.  People will answer almost any question you have and with the exception of actually going out and finding you clients, a new writer can find online every single of piece of information that they require to become an established writer – and if it’s not available, they’ve just got to ask.

I include myself in both of these points, tending to carry out every part of the actual writing process myself, but helping others whenever I can.

Lately, however, I’ve been considering hiring someone to edit my work before I send it off to the client, as I’ve realised because it’s the aspect of being a freelance writer that I enjoy least, it’s the aspect that takes up the majority of my time.

It’s something that’s a little difficult for me to organise, though. Not for the fact I can’t find a suitable editor, but because it means giving a part of my service as a writer up and I don’t want to become so reliant on someone else that should I need to start editing my own work again for whatever reason, I find it more of a chore than I do now.

But the simple fact is that I can’t take on any more work at the moment. I’ve got some clients waiting to work with me and I’d love to work with them, but unless I free up some time – with the easiest way being by removing the editing side from my work – I’m going to be staying in somewhat of a Catch 22 situation.

And now I’ve said all of that, I’m excited. Since I’ve really taken freelance writing as a career seriously, I’ve spent the last 8 months working full to capacity, only taking on new clients when I’ve finished working with an existing one.

Should I go ahead and hire an editor, I’ll be able to begin working with clients who I’ve been wanting to work with for a while, as well as looking at increasing my workload with current clients and developing my own projects, including my own blog.

Let the good times roll! (hopefully!)

Do you outsource any part of your work writing work? Has it benefited you or have you found it to be a hindrance?

I’m particularly interested in hearing from writers who’ve taken on people to carry out more unusual outsourced activities, such as finding and / or pitching for projects.

As freelance writers, we often have times when there’s so much work that we have to sub some out to other writers. I work with a small team of writers and get a lot of requests from people wanting to know how they can work with me and get paid to write. Unfortunately, most of the emails I get go straight into the trash folder because they don’t help me to know why I should add you to my writing team. Here are some ways to improve your chances of getting on that list.

1. Write Like A Writer

I’m sorry, but if you send me a message in text-speak I won’t get in touch with you. Your message to me is your first chance to make a good impression. Use whole sentences, spell correctly and show me that you can write. If you can do that, then I’ll be willing to consider you.

2. Include Links To Your Work

Telling me that you want to get paid to write is not enough. I need to know what you can do for me. When you write to me, include a link to your site or examples of your writing. If you don’t, how will I know if you’re a good fit for my writing team? (Note: Please don’t include whole articles in the comments or contact form.)

3. Include Your Full Name

Treat your contact with me like a first interview and make it easy for me to know who you are. Don’t put your first name in lowercase letters. For all I know that could be an alias. Include your full name and where I can find you, so I can Google you and make sure you’re legit.

4. Don’t Assume I’m Desperate

I may have work to sub out, but every writer who works with me affects my reputation with my clients. That means it’s not enough to send in your name and assume that I will be happy to have you. If you can’t give me proof of your credentials and evidence that you can write, then don’t bother. I’m not so desperate that I’ll sub out to you.

5. Do Your Research

Take the time to browse my site and find my name. It’s on the About page where you can’t miss it. Don’t address me as Dear Sir/Madam or forget the salutation altogether. It’s just rude and will get our potential relationship off to a bad start.

The upshot of all this is that you need to communicate like a professional. I am always happy to talk to other writers and provide advice, but if you are looking for work, then behave like it. Communicate professionally and you stand a good chance of getting to the next stage – and maybe making the list for some writing work.

Update: 14/04/2009 – Thanks for sending your emails, clips and resumes. There are no vacancies in the writing team at the moment, but follow the blog to find out when new opportunities come up.